The Survivor

My name is David Steiner. I am a sixty-year-old survivor. What have I survived? Well, I have survived over twenty accidents and five attacks in which at least two hundred other people have been killed.

I was only a two-year-old baby when I survived an air crash. Fifty people died in that air crash including my parents. I was the only survivor. Next day, all the newspapers carried the story of how a baby had escaped miraculously from the air crash.

I was six years old when I was riding to school on my school bus. On a sharp bend in the road, the driver lost control of the bus and it broke the side railings and fell straight into the river. Five school children and the bus driver lost their lives that day. Again, I was the only survivor.

Since then I have survived ten car accidents, two motorbike accidents, five bus accidents, one boat sinking, one helicopter crash and two plane crashes. I have also survived two shootouts and a knife attack.

I am not sure if I am lucky to survive those accidents and attacks or if I am a carrier of ill fate. I would like to think that it is the former.

I was leading my life quietly when suddenly another accident brought massive attention to me. A famous Reporter called Sandra Rocks from a leading TV news channel somehow got news of my miraculous escapes. She started chasing me for an interview. 

I kept refusing her for a long time. But, she offered me a lot of money. So, I finally agreed to come on her show for an Interview.

The Interview was meant to be a Live One. I was invited to the TV studio on a Saturday morning. The Interview was scheduled at 10 AM. I was asked to report two hours before the Interview. So, I went to the TV studio at 8 AM. The TV stylists brushed my face and explained me the details of the interview. They asked me to relax and look normal during the Interview.

Finally, the show started at 10 AM. Sandra introduced me to her Audience and commenced the Interview.

"It's unbelievable" Sandra exclaimed. "You survived all those accidents. How on earth did you do that? Do you believe that some higher force might be helping you?".

I nodded and replied "Yes. I think I am very lucky. God keeps saving me. I guess he has a higher purpose for me in life."

"So, tell us how does it feel like knowing that you are about to die? How does it fell in those last few moments?" Sandra asked me.

I answered "I felt really scared knowing that I am about to die. In those last moments, I felt very stupid and had many regrets. I felt like Death was the real truth. I was holding onto my life too tightly. I just wanted another chance to correct things".

Sandra chuckled and looking at the TV said "I guess God has given you many second chances. Do you think you have corrected everything now."

I smiled and answered "I realized it is a human folly. We never learn. I have been given too many chances already. But, it is the same feeling every time. I guess we just can't give up the feeling that life is temporary and it will end one day. We always keep looking for second chances."

Sandra asked "Did you have any near-death experiences or out of body experiences? How did it feel?".

I replied "Yes, I had such experiences on several occasions. I remember that during a recent Helicopter crash I suffered serious head injuries. As they were carrying me to the hospital I felt that I was traveling in air. As I looked down I could see my body lying lifeless in the Ambulance. I was traveling like a balloon in the Air."

I paused and took a sip of water before resuming "I stood in front of a tunnel of white light. I was about to enter it when I heard a voice saying,"Not now. Go back." Suddenly, I felt a feeling of falling down from a great height. When my head hit on the ground I woke up suddenly. My eyes opened to see the doctors applying the defibrillators on my chest."

Sandra said with amazement "Wow. This almost seems like a movie story." She asked, "Did you feel any intuituion before any such accident which warned you and saved your life?".

I replied "Yes, I feel that something around me changes and warns me of the danger. I was about to board an ill-fated bus to return home from a client location when I started feeling an uneasiness in my chest as soon as I sat down on the bus. Just before the bus was about to start I got down and decided to relax for another day and catch the bus the next day. I was sleeping at night when I received a call from my wife. She was in a great panic. She thanked God that I was alright. Apparently, she had received a call from the bus authorities informing her that I had been killed in a bus accident that evening. All the passengers on board the bus had been killed in that accident and they were still identifying the bodies."

Sandra gasped "Unbelievable. You are so lucky."

She was about to ask me another question when I told her softly that I wanted to go to the loo. She announced a commercial break and asked me to hurry.

I got up quickly and rushed to the toilet. I had barely reached the toilet when I heard a loud crash followed by a hysteric cry of a woman.

I ran back. To my horror, I saw that a heavy old air conditioner had fallen on the ground. It had fallen at the exact spot where I had been sitting for my interview just a few moments earlier. Everyone in the room was just staring at me in a mix of horror and awe.

I had just survived one more accident. This time on Live TV.

The End